Flooring jack



May 10, v1955 w. E. HINGER 2,708,097

FLOORING JACK Filed July 1a. 1952 k` 2 sheets-sheet 1 Immun- 'l El Sq 3\3o 52 A 50 5C INVENToR. f l WILLIAM EHINGEQ.

\ n zaf \3q @Y AY IOQNEYS May 10, 1955 w. E. HINGER 2,708,097

FLOORING JACK Filed July 18, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i{\\v A INVENTOR.

/ 5c; WILL E. Hmaen United States Patent l ice FLOORING JACK y WilliamE. Hinger, Jamestown, N. Dak.

Application July 18, 1952, Serial No. 299,600

2 Claims. (Cl. 254--12) This invention relates to a jack adapted tofacilitate the laying of a board iloor. More particularly, the inventionhas reference to a device adapted to engage a supporting surface onwhich a floor is to be laid, said device being so formed as to engage afloor board and force the same against an adjacent floor board to closethe joint therebetween.

It is well appreciated among those skilled in the art that it isdifficult to force a floor board against a board which has already beennailed to the sub-floor or joists, in a manner effective to make a tightjoint between the two boards. tudinal curve 'in the floor board, andalthough an experienced worker is skilled in straightening out the floorboard during the actual operation of nailing the same, it is not unusualfor the oor board to have such a spring in it as to make it difficult toclose the joint mentioned.

Heretofore, devices have been conceived for forcing each board to belaid against an adjacent board which has already been nailed down, tomake a tight joint therebetween. However, to my knowledge, those deviceshave not found wide spread commercial favor, because some of them, Ihave found, require an excessive amount of time so far as setting thesame up for use is concerned. In other instances, it has been found thatthe flooring jacks previously devised have operating characteristicswhich reduce their facility of operation, and which, additionally,prevent their manufacture at a cost sufficiently low to permit quantityproduction.

The broad object of the present invention is to provide a ooring jackwhich will have none of the disadvantages noted above. More specificobjects of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a flooring jack which will include a base providedwith an improved base anchoring means adapted to be engaged with asupporting surface on which a floor is to be laid, and further adaptedto position the base properly relative to said oor;

Second, to provide a device as stated wherein the anchoring meansreferred to will be disposed at one end of the base, the base having aguideway at its other end on which a movable assembly is mounted, saidassembly being provided with means adapted for engaging a oor board in amanner effective to force the floor board against an adjacent tloorboard to close the joint therebetween, when the assembly is adjusted inone direction upon the base;

Third, to provide a device as described wherein the movable assembly isadapted to be adjusted to selected positions by a gear and lever unit,said gear and lever unit being operatively associated with a pair ofpawls of diiferent lengths respectively arranged for retaining themovable assembly in positions of both major and tne adjustment, saidpawls being simultaneously shifted to assembly-releasing positions by asingle pawl release mechanism; and

Fourth, to provide a ooring jack of the character referred to which canbe easily set up for use or removed In many instances, there is a slightlongi when it is not to be used, will be rugged, simply formed, andcapable of manufacture at relatively low cost.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claimsappended thereto, and from the annexed drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts throughout the several views, andwherein:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a flooring jack formed inaccordance with the present invention, a floor Figure 6 is a sectionalview substantially on line l6 6 of Figure 5; and

'Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional View taken Online4 7-7 of Figure3.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the device constituting the presentinvention can be properly considered as including four main assembliesoperatively relatedto complete the jack. These assemblies includeva basedesignated generally by the reference numeral 10, a base anchoring meansdesignated generally at 12, a movable floor board engaging assembly 14,and means 16 adapted for adjusting said movable assembly 14.

Considering rst the construction of the base 10, the

base includes a pair of transversely spaced side plates 1S, said sideplates being generally elongated, and being disposed substantiallyhorizontally. The side plates are provided with upstanding side walls,said side walls being vertically disposed and being arranged inparallelism with one another, and being integrally formed, along theirlower edges, with longitudinal, inwardly extended guide anges 20.

The provision of the guide flanges 20 and the upstanding side walls ofthe base denes a guideway at one end of the base, on which the movableassembly 14 is mountted for adjustment longitudinally of said base.

Considering now the construction of the base anchoring means 12, saidmeans includes a vertically disposed channeled member 22 secured xedlyto the respective side plates 18, at one end of said side plates. Thechan-- neled member 22 extends between the side walls of thel sideplates, so as to fixedly connect the side plates in transverselyspacedrelation, at one end of the base.

The upper end of the channeled member 22 projects a substantial distanceabove the upper edges of the side plates 18, and welded or otherwisexedly mounted in said upper end of the channeled member 22 is a plug 24constituting an anvil. Thus, if it is desired to drive the baseanchoring means into engagement with a oor joistk l or other supportingsurface on which the base is to be mounted, the user can hammerdownwardly upon the anvil 24. In this connection, the channeled member22 is provided at its lower end with supporting surfaceengaging prongs.Thus, I provide a nail stop 26 disposed transversely of the web of themember 22, adjacent the lower end of said member, said nail stop beingWelded or otherwise iixedly secured to the channeled member.' The nailstop is adapted to engage the heads of a pair of nails 28, said nailsbeing clamped against the web" of the channeled member by means of anail-clamping' plate 30 having a center opening 32 of smooth walled,formation. A stud 33 is welded at one end to the web of the channeledmember 22, between the nails 28,

and extends through said smooth walled opening of the,

Patented May 10, 1955l stud, against the plate 30, so as to force thenails against the web of the channeled member, thus to prevent movementof the nails relative to said channeled member. lt will be readilyappreciated that when the channeled member is forced downwardly againstthe H oor joist I, the pointed ends of the nails, which project belowthe lower end of the channeled member, will be driven into the floorjoist.

Constituting a part of the base is a channeled spacer 36, said spacerbeing disposed at that end of the base remote from the base anchoringmeans 12, and having upstanding side walls secured to the inner edges ofthe flanges (Figure 4) by welding or equivalent fastening means. Thespacer 36 supports the base 10 in elevated position above the oor boardsB to bc laid, when the base anchoring means is driven downwardly intoengagement with the floor joist J or sub-oor.

If desired, the base anchoring means can be forced into engagement withthe oor joist I by a lever handle, said lever handle being particularlywell shown in Figures 2 and 6 and including a single piece of hat barmaterial folded upon itself to provide a handle 38 at one end, saidhandle merging into diverging fork arms 40, said fork arms beingpvotally mounted by means of a pin 42 upon the upper end of thechanneled member 22, and being disposed in embracing relation to saidchanneled member.

Carried by the fork arms is a handle stop 44, said handle 'stop beingformed as a U-shaped member having its legs secured to the respectivefork arms, and having its bight extending transversely between andunderlying the fork arms. Thus, when the handle 38 is swung to thehorizontal position thereof shown in Figure l, the stop 44 will beengaged against the channeled member 22.

In use of the handle 38, one would simply place the nails 28 against thefloor joist I, and would then rock the handle 38 downwardly, whileholding the base 10 downwardly against the floor. When the handle 38 isadjusted to its horizontal position, the stop 44 would engage thechanneled member 22, and thereafter, the pointed ends of the nails 28would be forced into the floor joist I.

Referring to the movable assembly 14, this includes a slide 46 ofrectangular cross section, said slide being seated in the channeledspacer 36, and being shiftable longitudinally of the base 10. The slide46 underlies and is rigidly secured to a toothed plate 48 having aseries of rack teeth formed on its upper surface. The toothed plate 48is wider than the slide 46, as best shown in Figure 6, the longitudinaledge portions of the toothed plate being slidably mounted in and Abeingguided by the anges 20 of the side plates 18 of base 10.

Integral or otherwise made rigid with the inner end of the slide 46 is adepending tongue 50, said tongue eX- tending into a recess 52 formed ina clamping block` 54. The clamping block 54, as shown in Figure l, isprovided at opposite sides thereof with grooves complementary 'to thetongues of lthe oor boards B. The clamping block is extendedtransversely of the base 10 (Figure 2), so as to engage the tongue of afloor board B when the device is positioned operatively and is ready foruse.

For the purpose of securing the tongue 5i) to the clamping block 54, Iprovide a screw 56 (Figure 7), said screw extending through a smoothwalled opening in the tongue A and being engaged in a threaded recessformed in the clamping block 54.

The means 16 for adjusting the movable assembly 14 includes a gear 58 inmesh with the rack teeth ofthe toothed plate 48.

The gear 58 is rigid with fa lever 60, said -lever being formed, in theillustrated embodiment of the invention, from a single piece of lat barmaterial folded upon itself to -provide a handle at one end and forkarms 62 at the other end, said fork arms embracing and 'being welded orotherwise made rigid with the gear wheel l58.

A pin 64 is extended between the side walls of the plates 18, and thegear wheel 58 is rotatably mounted upon said pin. In this connection, itis preferred that the pin 64 be held against rotation, and to this end,one of the side walls is formed with a non-circular opening receiving acomplementary portion of the pin 64.

ln mounting the means 16 upon the pin 64, a washer 66 is interposedbetween the lever and one of the side plates 18 (Figure 4). Thereafter,at the other side of the lever, there is mounted upon the pin 64 a shortpawl 68 (Figure 7), and adjacent the short pawl, there is mounted uponthe pin 64 a long pawl 70. The pawls are swingably mounted upon the pin64, and at their other ends, are provided with pointed fingers 72, 74respectively, said tingers being disposed side by side.

A pawl release pin 76 is interposed between the pawl 7i? and the otherside plate 18, and is also swingable upon the pin 64. The pawl releasepin 76, in this connection, is provided at one end with a lateralextension 78, which, in one position of the pawl release pin, is engagedwith the upper edge of the adjacent side plate 18.

In another position of the pawl release pin, a lateral projection 8),formed upon the pin 76 intermediate the ends of said pin 76, is adaptedto engage the lingers 72, 74 simultaneously, so as to elevate the pawls68, 70 to the dotted line positions thereof shown in Figure 7.

Normally, the pawls 68, 70 will gravitate to the full line positionthereof shown in Figure 7, and when the toothed plate 48 is beingshifted to the right in Figure 7 by operation of the lever 60, the pawlswill ratchet over the teeth of said toothed plate. As a result, theclamp block 54 will be forced against the iloor board B adjacentthereto, and will urge said tloor board into tight engagement with thefloor board adjacent thereto. When the joint between the adjacent floorboard is completely closed, the pawls 68 or 70, as the case may be, willretain the toothed plate in the selected position of adjustment.

lt will be apparent that the longer pawl 70 permits major adjustments ofthe toothed plate, with the shorter pawl 68 permitting ner adjustments.

ln any event, at such time as the oor board has been nailed down, oneneed only swing the pawl release pin 76 to the dotted line positionthereof shown in Figure 7, as a result of which the pawls 68. 70 will beshifted out of engagement with the toothed plate.

lt is believed to be an important characteristic of the invention thatthe device can be set up for use in u minimum time. One need onlyposition the device as desired, and swing the handle 38 downwardly. AsaV i and this has the effect of shifting the clamping block 54 to theleft in Figure l, so as to close the joint between the oor board Bengaged thereby, and that floor board adjacent to the engaged board. Theengaged board will, of course, be retained automatically in tightengagement with the adjacent floor board, by reason of the pawls 68, 70.The oor board can then be nailed down, after which the pawl release pin76 is swung to its dotted line position, and the lever is swungdownwardly. Thereafter, the device is removed from engagement with theoor joist I, and is shifted to another position,

so as to be ready for further use.

Of course, the movable assembly and the base can be of any desiredlength, so as to permit the device to be anchored in one position, in anarrangement that will allow more than one board B to be acted uponWithout requiring repositioning of the apparatus.

Additionally, it is believed sutliciently obvious as not to requirespecial illustration that the clamping block 54 can be of any desiredproportion, so as to engage the tongues of various types and sizes oftloor boards B.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confinedto the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may beutilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the inventionto be necessarily limited to the specific construction illustrated anddescribed, since such construction is only intended to be illustrativeof the principles of operation and the means presently devised to carryout said principles, it being considered that the invention comprehendsany minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a jack for board flooring, a base; means for anchoring the base toa supporting surface on which a Hoor is to be laid, said means includinga substantially vertical member rigid with the base, an anvil at theupper end of said member, a nail stop rigid with and extendingtransversely of the lower end portion of said member, nails having theirheads engaged under said stop and having their pointed ends projectingbelow the lower end of said member so as to penetrate an underlyingsurface on striking of said anvil, and a clamp on said member releasablyengaging said nails in position below the nail stop; a board-engagingassembly mounted movably upon the base for adjustment against a floorboard and adapted for forcing said floor board against an adjacent boardto close the joint therebetween; and means on the base arranged foreffecting said adjustment of the movable assembly.

2. In a jack for board ooring, a base; means for anchoring the base to asupporting surface on which a oor is to be laid, said means including asubstantially vertical member rigid with the base, an anvil at the upperend of said member, a substantially horizontal nail stopv disposedtransversely of the lower end portion of said member, said nail stopbeing xedly secured to the,

member, a plurality of nails having their heads under-` lying andengaged against the nail stop at locations spaced transversely of saidmember, a stud projecting outwardly from the lower end portion of saidmember between the nails, a nail clamp plate mounted upon said stud toshift References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS310,152 Schofield et al. Dec. 30, 1884 737,691 Adams Sept. 1, 1903796,968 Herr Aug. 8, 1905 977,471 Pickering Dec. 6, 1910 1,132,724Koonce Mar. 23, 1915 FOREIGN PATENTS 29,198 Great Britain of 1909

